Shifting-seat vehicle



(No Model.) 2SheetS-Sheet 1.

G. W. KERR.

SHIFTING SEAT VEHICLE. No. 475,059.

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G.W.KBRR. SHIFTING SEAT VEHICLE.

No. 475,059. Patented May 17, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE W. KERR, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

SHIFTING-SEAT VEHICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 475,059, dated May 1'7, 1892.

Serial No. 401,467. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. KERR, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vehicles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to certain novel and useful improvements in vehicles, but more particularly does it appertain to a novel seating arrangement whereby, in common with certain buckboard wagons now in use, the vehicle may be adapted to carry two or four persons and the rear seat locked firmly in any desired position relative to the front seat; and with these ends in view my invention consists and resides in the construction and combination of elements hereinafter fully explained, and then recited in the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may fully understand its construction and method of operation, I will describe the same in detail, referring by appropriate numerals to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a vehicle constructed in accordance with my invention,

the seats being arranged for four persons;

Fig. 2, a side elevation of the body, showing the seats arranged for two persons. Figs. 3 and 4 are rear end elevations of the seats, the former showing the body in vertical section. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective of the lockingframe.

Like numerals denote the same parts in all the figures.

The wagon-bod y 1 is preferably of box form, although I do not deem this shape essential. At the forward end of the body is an upward projection 2, which forms a seat box or support for the front seat. This latter (numbered 3) is hinged at its front edge either upon two posts orpillars 4, one at each corner, or to a projecting edge extending along the front of the box. At each side the seat 3 is provided with a downwardly-extending bracket 5, which rests upon the edges of the seat-box, as shown at Fig. 1, thereby affording to said seat a firm support. Said front seat is also provided with a lazy-back 6, hinged either to the seat-rail or to supports 7, projecting upwardly from the seat. -Two rails 8, T shape in section, extend longitudinally along the inner edges of the body, as is shown in section at Fig. 3 and as indicated by the dotted line at Figs. 1 and 2. Upon these rails is supported a sliding seat-box 9, adapted to enter the front seat-box and provided with a reversible back 10, which latter is designed to be turned upon its hingedjoint, so as to permit its occupants to face front or rear. The hinged joint is denoted by the numeral 11. The seat-board of this rear seat, from which the cushion may be readily removed, is slightly lower than the seat-board of the front seat, and it is also wide enough so that its rails 12 will pass outside of the rails 3 on the front seat when the parts are in the position shown at Fig. 2. The seatboard of said rear seat is longitudinally slotted near each edge, as shown by the dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, said slots being of such length and width as to permit the brackets or supports 5 to enter freely through them and rest upon the edges of the front-seat box. The sliding rear seat is furnished with a clamp or fastening device for holding it firmly upon its ways at any desired point in the length of its travel. This locking device consists of a frame. (Shown in detail at Fig. 5 as consisting of two parallel sides 13, connected by a transverse bowed portion 14, each of the sides having a downwardly and outwardly extending hook 15.) This frame is secured beneath the rear seat by bolts passing through the pierced ends 16 of its sides, the hooks 15 engaging beneath the T-shaped tracks or ways, as shown at Fig. 3. The upwardly-bowed portion of the frame is engaged by a cam 17, whose shaft is jonrnaled in the back of the seat-box and is provided with a handle 18, by which it may be turned so as to. either engage the hooks very firmly under the rails or to release them from such engagement. The two positions of the frame and cam are clearly shown at Figs. 3 and 4.

In the operation of my invention, when it is desired to arrange the vehicle with a single seat only, the lazy-back 6 is turned forward and downward to the position shown at-Fig. 2 and the front seat raised upon its hinged joint to avertical position. Then the cushion having been removed from the rear seat the the seat-box, which is narrower than the upwardly projecting portion of the body, is moved forward so as to pass wholly inside the latter, the rear-seat rails, which overhang, as heretofore stated, passing outside of and in closing the front-seat rails. The front seat is then dropped back upon its hinge and the supporting-brackets pass downward through the slots in the rear-seat board into engagement with the projecting portion of the body. To make a two-scated vehicle adapted to carry four persons all facing forward, the rear seat is placed in the position shown at Fig. 1, with its cushion in place, and is there firmly clamped by means of the clamping-frame and cam, as heretofore explained. In order to make a seating arrangement of the kind commonly known as dos a-dos, the rear-seatv box is pushed forward to 'a position a little behind the front seat, the back 10 reversed from the position shown at Fig. 1, andthe seat-box secured by means of the frame.

I am aware that it .is not broadly new to provide a vehicle with a seating arrangementcomprising a fixed front seat mounted on a hinged joint and combined with a sliding rear seat, and to this I do not wish to be understood as laying claim.

I claim 1. In a vehicle, the combination, with the front seat, of a longitudinally-sliding rear seat and ways whereon said seat is supported, a locking-frame having two parallel portions, whose ends are pivoted beneath the forward portion of the rear seat and a bowed portion connecting the two parallel portions, hooks extending under the rails, and a cam engaging the bowed portion of the frame and adapted to raise the latter, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, with the sliding rear seat and the rails whereon the latter is supported, of a locking-frame having parallel portions 13 fulcrumed, as at 16, to the seat, a

' curved bar let, connecting the parts 13, hooks 15, depending from the parts 13 and engaging the rails from beneath, and a cam secured in the back of the seat and engaging and adapted to operate againstthe center of the frame, substantially as described. In testimonywhereof I'afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEO. IV. KERR. \Vitnesses:

FRED H. BALDWIN, FREDK. F. BREWSTER. 

